With only today’s and tomorrow’s stages left to run, it’s time to catch up with the Dakar again. Since stage 4 a lot has happened – and indeed a lot hasn’t happened, as several stages have been shortened, changed or cancelled due to the conditions.

In the bikes, Marc Coma maintains a hefty lead, 1 hour 37 minutes ahead of the perpetually recovering Cyril Despres, himself narrowly in front of Davide Fretigne. Sadly privateer American Jonah Street, who was running as high as 2nd at one point, dropped out before stage 9 due to a wrist injury.

It’s all about who’s fallen by the wayside in the car race. Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah was disqualified from the race lead after stage 6 for missing waypoints. An engine fire put Stéphane Peterhansel out on stage 7; his Mitsubishi team-mate Luc Alphand went out the stage before. We lost the race leader for a second time when Carlos Sainz had a car destroying roll in a ravine on stage 12.

So after stage 12 we have Giniel de Villiers narrowly ahead of Volkswagen team-mate Mark Miller at the front, with the extreme Hummer of Robbie Gordon a distant 3rd. Nani Roma is the top remaining Mitsubishi, more than 7 hours back in 6th.

There are three McRae Enduro entries still running: Michel De Groot in 45th, two places ahead of the Alister McRae co-driven Chris Leyds entry, and Eliseo Salazar down in 90th.

From the touring car world, Yvan Muller’s buggy caught fire on stage 5, putting him out of the race; the Coronel twins are still running though, in 72nd after stage 12.